See Through a Dog's Eyes

In his book The Tiger, John Vaillant discusses the idea of umwelt, which is a German word meaning "environment," but is used by Jakob von Uexküll and Thomas A. Sebeok to mean an organism's view of the world.

So a tiger's umwelt wold be very different from a human's. The tiger would not only see things differently, but smell, hear, feel, taste, and on and on. How does walking on all fours affect one's viewpoint, for example? To enter the tiger's umwelt, one can only use one's imagination - imagine how the snow sounds to a tiger crunching under its paws, how the snow smells, what the breeze tells the tiger's whiskers.

How about the umwelt of a more common animal - a dog?  The video below, from a camera attached to a dog's collar during a visit to a dog park, is a wonderful aid if you're wondering how a dog sees the world.  The smells, sounds, tastes, and feel of it all is still up to your imagination...



Beautiful Day at the Dog Park from Kelsey Wynns on Vimeo.
It's also quite lovely and just fun to watch. Oh to be a dog at the dog park!

Tiger Attack!

Holy flircking schnit. The video below was shot in India as a group of men on elephants attempted to tranquilize a tigress.

You must watch this. It's only 28 seconds, and don't worry, there's no gore:

The Moon! The Moon's to blame...

Found this on Facebook and fell in love. Kudos to the "loonies" who made it.

Also, the moon plays in important part in the world of Otherkin, and this is kind of inspiring as I write book 2...

Kitten BBQ = BAD!!!

Thanks to The Oatmeal, who invited one and all to pirate this .gif so that we may hilariously understand why SOPA and PIPA must be stopped.

Blog-O-Changes

Just a quickie to note that I'm slowly changing my blog, and today I added buttons!

See, those things above that say "Blog," and then "About Me" and so on?  I added those.  I feel as proud as a toddler who's had her first bite of blended peas.

One of those buttons is my tumblr, which is called The Tulgey Wood. That's the old name for this blog, and I just couldn't bear to part with it completely.

Later on I'll be shaking things up more, but I want my pal and designing maven Elisa Nader to weigh in on fonts and photos and the like.

Stay tuned.

Almost a Character From My Book...

 Saw this video of a polar bear cub named Siku ....



And thought - Holy Nub-Ears, that's cute! Then I thought - there's a character named Siku in my upcoming book, Otherkin!

Siku is an Inuit name, and my character isn't a polar bear (exactly), and he's a teenager, not a baby, but...

Well, let's just say this is startlingly appropriate. Almost a spoiler, really. You'll have to read the book to find out exactly how.

Yes, it's true. Everything in the world is about ME and MY BOOK. Mwah ha ha ha!

Widget Alert!

Just added a countdown widget to my site, which you'll see to the right here.It counts down the days till release of my book.

Because, I, at least, am counting the days. And I want everyone else to share in my obsession so that I don't feel so crazy.

Many thanks to my genius critique partner, Elisa Nader, for designing it.

Also, a big shout out to fellow KTeen author Brigid Kemmerer for showing me how easy it is to make these widgets over at Widgetbox.  You can see Brigid's fabulous widget for the first book in her Elemental series, Storm, on her site here.

It's also Brigid's birthday. Happy Birthday, gorgeous, brainy, writer Mom woman!

OTHERKIN - Cover Reveal!

How tiger-iffic is this? The colors! The eyes! The stripey stripes and the font! I love it!

Here's the back cover text and blurbs from my wonderful fellow authors:

 

I thought I knew myself. Then I met Caleb.

Dez is a good girl who does as she’s told and tries not to be noticed.

Then she rescues a boy from a cage, and he tells her secrets about herself.

Now inside her burns a darkness that will transform her.

Everything is about to change -- and neither Caleb, nor the Otherkin, nor those who hunt them are prepared for what Dez will unleash.

"Get caught up in a dangerous world of shadow magic, shifters, and secrets."
- New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Estep

 "Be prepared to lose some sleep. Otherkin is full of non-stop action and suspense, and you're not going to be able to put it down!"
-- Brigid Kemmerer, author the Elemental series

OTHERKIN Cover Reveal - Coming Soon!

I just had to tease you a bit, because I've got the cover for my book in my hot little paws - and it's gorgeous!

Stay tuned for the big reveal, right here - tomorrow!

Hello, New Year!

So in 2012, the idea is to:

1. Finish Book 2.

3. Try something new that scares me.

2. Do things in an unexpected fashion at times.

4. Finish short story for fabulous upcoming secret anthology!

6. Maybe visit friends currently living in Kyiv (Kiev) in Ukraine. (Along with day trip to Chernobyl!)

5. Rewrite pilot script until it's fabulous.

7. If I'm lucky, start and finish Book 3.

9. Bodysurf (This one happens every year, and lucky me.)

8. Read some wonderful books.

10. Publicize Otherkin as best I can with all the tools at my disposal.

11. Yes, I know the numbers are out of order. Please see #2 for the reason.

12. A couple of very personal wishes, which will not be expressed here, but rather will reside deep inside my gray matter.


I'm adverse to resolutions. But goals are good. They help you get to the place you're hoping for. That, and luck, and help from other wonderful people, and lots of hard work.

What are your ideas for 2012?